Tuesday, May 01, 2001

2001/05/02

We're in Amsterdam now, they have regular keyboards here. I've got so used to the other ones, I'm having trouble adjusting back now!

Anyway, last night we ate at Le Francais (or something like that), a restaurant with a snobby waiter, serving inadequate food for a lot of money. Walked back to the hostel and played Risk (Dave won). Then me, Ryan, Dave and Jennifer (some Canadian chick staying at the hostel) walked around Brugge at night, until about 11:00. Everything looks very cool at night, all lit up, but of course, I didn't bring my cameras!!

We had some guy from Malaysia in our room last night (dormitory room), and he cut down trees all night. Between him snoring, and Dave, Neil and Ryan hacking, coughing, wheezing and sneezing all night, I didn't get much sleep. I still haven't got the cold the other guys have, which is amazing, living in such close quarters with them.

After breakfast, we walked downtown (market square). We had to stop at a department store so Dave could get a new towel, as he left his at the hostel in Brussels. We are still trying to figure out who's fault that one is. On the way there, Dave got hit by a truck. He's OK though.

Went to the Belfry tower, which was pretty cool. Then went to the Basilla of the Blood. When we walked in, some old guy (83 years old) approached us, and tells us how much he loves Canadians, and he has so much respect for Canadians. He then takes us on a tour of the Basilla, explaining what everything means. We are not allowed to take pictures (still or video) in the Basilla, so Dave asks the old guy if we can. He says, "Normally we don't allow it, but because you're Canadian, go ahead!" So Neil started snapping pics.

He then took us outside and started giving us the history of some of the buildings. Very interesting. He then took us inside city hall, and told us stories about some of the paintings and sculptings. One painting they have is of Napolean and the mayor of Brugge. The story goes that the people of the town thought the mayor was a traitor, collaborating with the Dutch, and killed him (cut his head off), then cut the head out of the picture. Post mortem, they realized they made a mistake about the mayor, and pasted the head back into the painting. Viewed from the correct angle, you can see where it was cut and pasted back in. The old guy was also a veteran of WWII, he fought with the Belgian Army.

After lunch, we got to the train station and jumped on a train for Amsterdam. On the way to Amsterdam, blue skies started to prevail!!!!! Hopefully we'll be leaving the clouds and rain behind from here on in.

Arrived in Amsterdam. What a difference compared with other European cities. Amsterdam is very modern, and very western looking. With the exception of the canals, it could be any city in North America. Very different than other European cities.

Ate supper at Burger King, then walked to the hostel, but kept getting lost, and walked about 3x further than we needed too.

Hostel is amazing, very big, very nice, probably better than half the hotels in Amsterdam. We think it's just under $50.00CDN/night.

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